The Kingdom of Wish & Why: Book urges readers to look at purpose of possessions

Sunday

Jan 5, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 5, 2014 at 6:26 PM

“It’s not just stuff that makes us feel good.”

KATIE HANSEN Daily News Staff

"It’s not just stuff that makes us feel good.”

That’s the timeless message from local author Donna Milliner who creates a story of finding happiness in sharing and rediscovering rather than in material possessions in her new book The Kingdom of Wish & Why.

Milliner, a retired Onslow County English teacher and Navy chaplain’s wife, has published five other books, three for adults and two for children.

“I’ve always done what I call private writing,” Milliner said, adding that it wasn’t until she retired from teaching that she decided to write for the public sphere.

The Kingdom of Wish & Why is a story of a kingdom “not so far away” filled with discontent people — children and adults alike — who always want more no matter how much they already have.

In Milliner’s story, a character arrives to show the people of the kingdom the way to be happy in life is to give to others, to share, and to rediscover the greatness in their belongings.

“I like to think it’s pretty timeless in terms of its message,” Milliner said. “It’s not just stuff that makes us feel good. It’s sharing, it’s giving, it’s the rediscovering of things we’ve laid aside.”

She said she was inspired by things in her own life: she has six grandchildren who she thought perhaps needed to learn the lesson, and she also thought she needed the reminder herself.